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19-01-2026
TEHRAN: Most of Iran’s 90 million-strong population remains cut off from the rest of the world more than one week after an unprecedented, state-imposed communications blackout amid nationwide protests, which began in December and quickly turned deadly.
The Iranian government abruptly cut off all internet access across the 31 provinces of the vast country on the night of January 8 when protests swelled into mass demonstrations against the clerical leadership, days after shopkeepers first shuttered their businesses in downtown Tehran in protest over rising prices.
Mobile communications were also blocked and people were unable even to call rescue services on that first night.
After the start of the blackout, it took authorities several days to restore an intranet designed to provide access to local websites and services.
It is unclear when or to what extent access to the global internet will be restored. Local phone services have been restored but SMS text messages remain blocked.
Since Tuesday, only outgoing international phone calls have been reconnected. The state continues to send many one-way text messages to people across the country daily, urging them not to fall victim to ploys by “enemies” and to report any suspicious activity.
The government has not released official figures for the number of people killed during clashes between protesters and government forces, mostly on the night of January 8 and January 9. The widely cited United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) put the death toll at 2,615 on Wednesday this week, although Iran’s government claims that is an exaggeration.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday this week, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi denied that Tehran had any plans to execute protesters. During that interview, he downplayed the death toll being reported.
“I certainly deny the numbers and figures they have said. It is an exaggeration, it is a misinformation campaign, only to find excuses, only to do another aggression against Iran,” Araghchi said, adding that the number was being exaggerated to involve US President Donald Trump in the conflict.
While Iranian authorities have confirmed that protesters, including children, women and unarmed civilians, are among those who have died, officials claim “terrorists” and “elements” trained and armed by the US, Israel and their allies are behind all of the mass killings as well as the “riots” that saw government buildings attacked, and public property burned across the country.
The Iranian authorities have not confirmed the killings of protesters by state forces. Instead, they have conversely claimed that members of the Iranian forces were killed, including by being burned or beheaded.
Media cannot independently verify the casualty figures because of the communications blackout.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, and in communications with the UN and international stakeholders, Iranian authorities placed the blame for deaths during the protests on the US and Israel, saying they, in effect, hijacked protests that started peacefully in reaction to a quickly deteriorating economic situation.
The UN has emphasized that violence must not be used against protesters. At the same time, it has also opposed any form of armed intervention amid persistent concerns that Trump could attack Iran as he has threatened to do.
The streets of Tehran and other cities across the country have been relatively quiet in the aftermath of the deadly protests but many may fear what is to come. (Int’l News Desk)
